EyeBuyDirect Review

9.7Our Score

9.7Community Score(3 votes)

Pros

+ Much Lower Prices Than Competition

+ FREE Trial Period for 5 frames

Cons

- Less Quality Than Competition

- Mixed Reviews for Return Service

Summary

After a thorough review of EyeBuyDirect, it’s clear that the key to success is their value and variety. There are endless options of styles, colors, lenses and features to choose from, and they all have the promise of durability and customer service.

Also offering a much lower price for glasses that look identical to designer brands, EyeBuyDirect.com continues to demonstrate immense value to their customers.

About EyeBuyDirect

Founded in 2005, EyeBuyDirect.com is an online eyeglasses retailer that aims to please customers with a wide variety of stylish lenses at unbeatable prices. They offer frames that start at just $6 – a fraction of the cost of other eyewear retailers.

For EyeBuyDirect, the key to offering low prices is their vertically integrated company structure. They cut out the middle man – producing all of their products in-house and selling directly to consumers without reliance on wholesalers or retail shops.

Company Operations

Entrepreneur Roy Hessel is the brains behind the operations. He founded the eyewear company with one vision in mind: to make eyeglasses globally accessible. In addition to being the Founder and CEO of EyeBuyDirect, Hessel is also the CEO of the Clearly Group.

How is it possible for one man to be the CEO of multiple eyewear companies? Although not overtly apparent from browsing the site, the majority stakeholder of the company is eyewear giant Essilor. In 2014, Essilor purchased Clearly’s parent company, Coastal Contacts, Inc., for $445M.

While EyeBuyDirect has established itself as a unique brand among the Essilor conglomerate, Hessel’s expertise and the guidance from Essilor are clearly contributing to the global success of the brand.

Shopping Experience

Because it operates purely online, EyeBuyDirect operates under a “customer first” mentality, ensuring that customers have all the information they need to complete their purchase. The website seamlessly integrates product photography with video guides that educate and inform customers.

One of the features they offer is EYETRY™, a virtual mirror that allows you to upload photos and “try on” different frames. It generates product recommendations and allows you to compare different frames.

Customers are also able to view frames from multiple angles, read reviews and filter based on their preferences of size, rim, shape, material and color. Overall, the shopping process is simple and user-friendly.

For an additional $4, you’ll get premium packaging with their glasses, which includes a case, microfiber cloth and mini screwdriver.

In order to keep prices affordable, the company does make a few sacrifices. Frames can take up to 2 weeks to ship, some customers report. Free shipping is available in the U.S. on orders over $99, but with such low prices, you may need to foot the bill for shipping if you’re only purchasing one pair of glasses.

However, their innovation and commitment to product quality makes it well worth a longer wait and incurring a shipping cost.

Digital Lenses

One example of their recent innovation is Eyezen, a lens technology pioneered by Essilor and sold online exclusively through EyeBuyDirect. Created with the tech-savvy millennial consumer in mind, Eyezen lenses protect eyes against the strain that comes with staring at digital screens.

Social Responsibility

EyeBuyDirect’s overall values of providing affordable glasses for everyone suggest that they care about their customers. It’s part of who they are, and their commitment to social responsibility is no different.

The company aims to help 2.5 billion people worldwide who need vision correction. They do this through charity donations and donating glasses to organizations like Feed the Children and The Lions Club.

By combining these donations with their existing low prices, EyeBuyDirect.com aims to ensure that financial strains should never prevent someone from access to the vision correction they need.

Our EyeBuyDirect Review

Style, variety, innovation and a $6 price tag? It may sound too good to be true. Our EyeBuyDirect review will focus on the 5 key elements that matter most to consumers: lens quality, frame quality, style, customer service and price.

We’ll turn over every stone to uncover what customers are really saying about the brand aiming to revolutionize the way the world buys glasses and make it accessible to all.

EyeBuyDirect Lens Quality – 10/10

In addition to the digital screen protection lenses, EyeBuyDirect offers Transitions®, single vision, bifocal and free-form progressive lenses. In order to keep prices low, the company offers several options for customers to customize their level of lens quality.

In our review, we found that they offer a wide array of lens options to correct most vision needs.

They include anti-scratch coating in all lenses they produce.

For additional features, customers can choose the options they want. Basic lenses come in a 1.50 index, but you can also get thinner high-index lenses from 1.60 – 1.74. You can add UV protection and also choose to add different lens tints. There is no shortage of customization option for your lenses.

Because you are able to select each option individually, you only pay for the treatments you want. They also explain the different lens types to help you choose the appropriate ones for you.

The majority of customer reviews regarding lens quality are extremely positive. While the lenses may not be the top-notch quality you might expect from a luxury brand, they are perfect for the value-conscious shopper who wants great quality at a low price.

EyeBuyDirect Frame Quality – 10/10

Similar to their lenses, EyeBuyDirect.com offers an array of frame options to fit a wide variety of styles and budgets. Their frame styles include full rim, semi rim and rimless frames.

The majority of frames are full rim, meaning they fully encompass the lens. These frames offer maximum support and are generally the sturdiest style of frame. Their selection of frames come with a variety of materials to choose from, including wood texture, plastic, metal and titanium.

Semi-rim and rimless frames come in metal and titanium. While they are great for minimalist styles, rimless glasses are more fragile. They are still included in EyeBuyDirect’s warranty, however.

EyeBuyDirect’s customer loyalty is a testament to their frame’s quality and durability. Many customers keep coming back after reporting that their glasses have held up for years, even longer than some designer frames. Of course, this requires carefulness on the part of the owner. Any frames are bound to break if you don’t take proper care of them.

Again, the quality is very relative to the price. EyeBuyDirect sells $6 glasses made of plastic, which are great for a back-up pair but most likely won’t withstand any major drops or rough handling.

On the other hand, their premium frames, RFLKT, are made from high quality acetate. These frames are sturdier and much more polished and refined.

Product descriptions are always clear and detailed, so there should be no surprises when your new glasses come in the mail.

EyeBuyDirect Style – 10/10

EyeBuyDirect.com certainly does not sacrifice style or variety; they offer both. Offering glasses and sunglasses for men, women and kids, there is a large assortment of options to choose from to fit everyone’s preferences.

From basic black-rimmed rectangular frames to the edgy clear-blue Enzo sunglasses, their glasses appeal to all gender, age and style preferences.

EyeBuyDirect.com isn’t just an industry follower, however. It’s clear that they invest in branding efforts to market themselves as a young, cool and stylish brand.

They collaborate with creative influencers to create custom collections, such as Her Crush, which celebrates inspirational and unique women. New styles and collections are released frequently, highlighting the latest trends.

In everything they do, EyeBuyDirect celebrates individuality. Since they sell glasses globally, they have enough variety to satisfy diverse style needs. There are very few styles that you won’t find on their site.

EyeBuyDirect Customer Service – 9/10

EyeBuyDirect aims to make the shopping process easy for customers every step of the way, and it’s clear they take their commitment to customer satisfaction seriously. They offer several different product guarantees.

If you are dissatisfied with your glasses for any reason, you can return them within 14 days for free and receive a full refund or exchange. They also have a 365-day product guarantee. If there are any manufacturing defects that occur within the first year, they will replace them for a new pair at equal value.

Their commitment to customer service goes beyond just product guarantees. The brand is active on social media and responds quickly to any customer concerns. With such a large customer base, there are bound to be a few dissatisfied customers.

The company responds promptly to any frustrated customer and does everything they can to address the issue.

However, the negative customer feedback is few and far between. Of the 664 reviews posted to the brand’s Facebook page, over 84% are 4-5 stars. Customers are happy to give praise to the service they receive from EyeBuyDirect.

Of course, no one is perfect. The company was the victim of a security breach in 2015, when they announced that some of their customers’ personal information, including credit card information, may have been compromised.

During the incident, the company’s customer service team was transparent, honest and offered a free year of identity theft protection to individuals who were affected. Overall, it doesn’t seem as if the security breach has done much damage to the brand’s reputation for excellent customer service and product quality.

EyeBuyDirect Cost – 9.5/10

EyeBuyDirect boasts frames starting at $6. In reality, their frames can range in price, and adding additional styling features can drive up the price you pay.

However, there simply isn’t another brand who can offer the balance between price and quality that EyeBuyDirect does. It is a “more bang for your buck” brand – with options to satisfy every price range. This is what keeps customers coming back to purchase more frames (you can never have too many, after all.)

EyeBuyDirect is often cited as the place to go if you want to look like you’re wearing designer lenses without paying the price tag.

EyeBuy Direct Review Final Thoughts

After a thorough review, it’s clear that the key to EyeBuyDirect’s success is their value and variety. There are endless options of styles, colors, lenses and features to choose from, and they all have the promise of durability and customer service.

If you care about high-end, name brand frames, this is not the place for you. But if you want great style at an even better value, our review found them to be an excellent option.

Chances are you’ll actually spend more than the $6 they advertise after adding lenses, shipping costs and additional features, but the price you do end up paying will still be much less than competitors of a comparable style and quality.

About Us

A group of eyewear aficionados, we focus on providing content that is unbiased, credible and thorough. The products we recommend offer clear and valuable consumer benefits. We do receive compensation from the companies whose products we review and that you purchase using our link, but at no cost to you.